Spice and pepper grinding mills for the consumer have been in existence for many years. Freshly ground spices, and in particular pepper, have much better flavour than previously ground spices. Generally, spice/pepper-mills have been comprised of a body and top or cap portion which rotates in a clockwise direction to rotate the male grinding mill within the stationary female grinding mill, to produce the ground spice product.
In the prior art mills, generally a top cap which is threaded onto a shaft, is used to either loosen or tighten the abutting relationship of the male and female grinder mills. Unfortunately, this type of adjustment with the cap is not accurate. Furthermore, the cap, vis a vis the top portion of the grinder, changes position because of rotation. Uneven sizing of the ground product is the result. Furthermore, the threaded cap must be constantly moved back into the desired position as it tends to either tighten or loosen, depending upon the movement given to the spice mill.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an adjustable spice/pepper-mill which will produce ground spice of three particulate sizes, constantly and accurately, whenever desired.
Therefore, this invention seeks to provide an adjustable spice grinding device for domestic use; said device being adapted to dispense ground spice of varying particulate size; said device including a shift means, an outer grinding mill and an inner grinding mill; said inner grinding mill being disposed on a vertical shaft and rotatable therewith; said shift means being adapted in operation to move said inner grinding mill vertically on said shaft such that a distance between an inner grinding surface of said outer grinding mill and an outer grinding surface of said inner grinding mill varies, thereby producing, in operation, ground spice of different particulate size.
The invention further seeks to provide a spice grinding device wherein a shift means comprises a rotatable shifter, a bridge and a movable middle spacer means of unequal thickness; said spacer means being in constant contact with a lower surface of an inner grinding mill and an upper surface of said bridge whereby, in operation, said rotatable shifter is adapted to move said spacer means from a lesser thickness to a greater thickness, and vice versa, thereby moving said inner grinding mill vertically on said shaft.
The spice/pepper-mill of the present invention has a body portion and a head portion. The body portion and head portion contain a cylindrical empty middle portion which is used to store the spice to be ground. A shaft extends from the top of the head portion to the floor of a bridge. A cap secures the cylindrical shaft at the top. The shaft goes through a spring and an outer female grinding mill to an inner male grinding mill, through a step ring, to rest at the bottom of a bridge. A shifter at the bottom of the spice mill communicates with the tapered step ring such that when the shifter is moved the tapered step ring moves, and such movement causes the inner male grinding mill to move vertically upon the shaft, upwards or downwards, thus forcing it into closer or farther contact with the outer female grinding mill. Thus, the shifter will adjust the size of the product which will be ground by the spice/pepper-mill.
A spring abuts a clamp at its top end which is fixed on the shaft and it abuts the inner male grinding mill at its bottom end, thus forcing it in constant contact with the step ring. The bridge is generally secured to the outer female grinding mill and the body portion of the spice mill by screws. Thus, the bridge, the outer female grinding mill and the body portion are stationary whereas the head, the shaft and the inner male grinding mill are rotatable.
The step ring, by means of rods, is attached to the shifter such that a rotation of the shifter causes a rotation of the step ring. The bottom of the step ring in its various positions abuts projections protruding from the bottom of the bridge in such a manner that the step ring raises and lowers about the vertical shaft, thus raising or lowering the inner male grinding mill. A spacer is located between the head portion and the body portion. A plastic ring, which serves only a decorative function, is located between the head and the body. In operation, the shifter is moved to one of three positions by the user, and the head is turned in a clock-wise direction to produce ground spice.
By moving the shifter from the first position to the second position, and from the second position to the third position, the size of the ground spice will vary from fine, to medium, to coarse.
To refill the spice/pepper-mill the top threaded cap is simply removed, the head removed, and spice is poured into the cylindrical body cavity.